Wandering at the Shadows' Edge

exploring potential and possibility

Archive for the tag “bullet journal”

12 Nov 2019

2020 Planning

I mentioned my bullet journal a few posts back. It’s the form of paper planner that works best for me. One of my issues was finding a way to carry all my pens and stencils with me. I’ve solved that one. And I’ve made some adjustments to this year’s journal for the last couple of months of the year. This gives me a chance to test some of the things I want to try for next year.

I can’t try all of them right now but I’m making some notes. I have a gridded notebook that I use to work out the kings of things – the look and layout of trackers and pages and calendars. It helps me figure out if my ideas are logistically viable. It’s time to pull it out to start brainstorming what and how I’m going to track things in 2020.

It’s going to be different for 2020 because the planner is twice as big as the one I’ve been using. So I have to replan everything. I can fit more on a single page for some things, but there are other things that will use more space. the reason for the bigger planner is because my current on feels cramped in many ways.

I didn’t do too well tracking some things this year, though I’ve gotten better at it as I’ve fine tuned my journal. But I got way behind on the annual tracking. I’m not happy about that. I know why. I didn’t set time aside each week and month to update the journal pages. It’s something I need to block out time for going forward. It’s not something that takes a lot of time. I just need to sit down and do it.

I need to find an overall theme for 2020 – I’m not sure yet what tack I want to take with that yet. But it is something I need to do. And I need to start looking for quotes and pictures that fit whatever that theme ends up being.

My journal is important, but it’s fun too. I look forward to using it. It makes me more productive in the areas I make priorities.

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15 Oct 2019

Planning the Shadow Wandering

I love paper planners. I’ve tried all kinds of them. I’ll find almost any excuse to try a new one. And none of them have really worked well for me. So I’ve mapped out a lot of shadow paths I don’t want to explore again. Because none of the preprinted paper planners seem to work for me.

A few years ago, an author friend of mine gave me a bullet journal for my birthday. I decided to give bullet journaling a try. And I failed miserably for the first year. But something clicked mentally. The next year I failed less miserably.

I tweaked the way I was using my bullet journal, which really the whole purpose – make it work for you. It’s still not perfect. I still fail somewhat. But this year I’m using it on a far more regular basis. And I’m tracking some things I really want to track. I haven’t managed to track them all, but I’m getting better at it.

And I’m figuring out what I need to change for 2020. My current journal is the size of a trade paperback. It feels tight when I try to plan out a week. It’s possible but not comfortable. So next year’s journal will be larger.

I like being creative and using lots of colors. That means toting around lots of pens – because my journal needs to be mobile. I’m working on a space efficient way to carry all of my pens and my ruler and stencils. The stencils need to be available – because I may be creative, but I can barely draw (something I’m working on improving) and I certainly can’t do it quick enough to make it worth doing to decorate my journal.

I’m still working on what I want to track next year and how. Some of my tracking formats worked and some not so much. I have a few months to figure it out and a special notebook just for playing around with ideas.

My bullet journal is something I need. But I also need to want to use it. It needs to be useful, creative, and fun. It needs to be able to adjust and update when I need it to. It’s getting there – and I’m enjoying tweaking it as I go.

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